


a shallow accident

by matskreider



Series: tumblr prompts [8]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Rome, Established Relationship, M/M, kreider being an idiot at mats' expense, which should honestly be a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 20:54:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13279686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matskreider/pseuds/matskreider
Summary: The Emperor gets the news as he’s leaving his senate meeting. Vesey, the messenger, looks apprehensive as he approaches, his hands folded around the edges of his dark blue robes. When he says why he’s gone, the Emperor understands why.“Get my horse,” he demands, and when he’s given his mount, he wastes no time bolting to the training grounds. He dismounts before his mare has come to a complete stop, and ducks into the medical tent. Sure enough, the news was true.Bloodied rags drip on the table, with the basin of water beside them dyed a wine red. The person responsible for the blood lays shirtless on the table, giving him a lazy smile. The bandages around his abdomen slowly darken, even as the Emperor is watching, but Grabner seems relaxed from where he’s cleaning his tools, so the Emperor forces himself to take a breath.“What happened?”





	a shallow accident

The Emperor gets the news as he’s leaving his senate meeting. Vesey, the messenger, looks apprehensive as he approaches, his hands folded around the edges of his dark blue robes. When he says why he’s gone, the Emperor understands why.

“Get my horse,” he demands, and when he’s given his mount, he wastes no time bolting to the training grounds. He dismounts before his mare has come to a complete stop, and ducks into the medical tent. Sure enough, the news was true.

Bloodied rags drip on the table, with the basin of water beside them dyed a wine red. The person responsible for the blood lays shirtless on the table, giving him a lazy smile. The bandages around his abdomen slowly darken, even as the Emperor is watching, but Grabner seems relaxed from where he’s cleaning his tools, so the Emperor forces himself to take a breath.

“What happened?”

“I s-”

“This idiot thought it would be an excellent idea to train with real weapons today. Didn’t count on Skjei being faster than expected after recovering from his injury last month, and took a spear to the stomach.”

The Emperor turns to glare at the prone soldier. “You took a  _ spear  _ to the stomach?”

The soldier’s mouth twists into an unimpressed frown. “He’s exaggerating. Just a knife wound. No big deal.”

Grabner huffs from where he’s standing, and heads towards the tent entrance. “Maybe he’ll listen to you. I’ll leave you to it,” he tosses over his shoulder, stepping out into the midday sun.

The Emperor remains staring at the tent entrance, before he feels a tugging on his fingers. He looks down, catching the soldier – his soldier, his beloved – trying to pull him closer. “You are a whole and complete fool. Who said you could do such a thing?” he mutters, but sits down at the edge of the bed. He takes his beloved’s hand in his own, squeezing softly.

“You did, when you made me a general,” he cheekily supplies. “I mean it, love. It missed anything important. Stomach wounds just bleed a lot.”

“Please, just…take better care of yourself next time,” the Emperor concedes. He feels movement next to him, but also knows that stopping him from moving is an impossible cause. The hand within his own slips free, reaching up to remove his crown. Had anyone else tried it, he would have gutted them.  

“Mats.” The softest plea, before two hands cup his cheeks and guide him to look back at him, who greets him with a crooked yet sweet smile. “I’m fine. I mean it.”

Mats levels him as flat a glare as he can manage in the current situation. “Chris. I need you to train them. You can’t do that if you’re hurt.”

“That may be so,” Chris softly concedes. “But it could have been a lot worse. And maybe I’ll switch up the training so we don’t have to use real knives.”

“That would be much appreciated,” Mats breathes. Then he’s pulled into a kiss that he can’t help but melt into. The kisses escalate, until he’s forced to pull back. “Grabs will kill us if we do this in his tent.”

“Then take me elsewhere,” Chris replies, wiggling his eyebrows at the Emperor. Mats doesn’t fight the urge to roll his eyes, but he does lean in so his mouth is right at Chris’ ear.

“I’m going to go talk to the others about what happened today. Then, I’m going back to my room. I expect you to be there, ready for me,” he purrs, before pressing a teasing bite at Chris’ neck. He savors the whimper as he leans back, looking at him with dark eyes. “Now. Give me my crown.”

Chris takes it and affixes it to Mats’ head, and the Emperor stands to take his leave. When he looks over his shoulder, he sees his soldier sitting up, shrugging back into his tunic. He might not be as pleased when the Emperor returns after having spoken to no one but Grabner about proper care for his wound, but sacrifices have to be made.  

**Author's Note:**

> yes this probably should have been in the collection with mats and chris' other fic but i didn't realize i'd be writing more than one when i published it so i foolishly didn't make a larger multi-chaptered work like i did for pekka/juuse and pat/brad. ah well, more fic for the masses.
> 
> hmu @ [tumblr.](http://matskreider.tumblr.com/) you know you wanna


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